Sportsman Guide Tent.

[hunter63]

Last year at the Jamboree....DW and I brought along out wall tent we use for Rondy, with the kitchen fly, cots and the rest of the gear.
Needed Big Red and Trailer as pack vehicles.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/Rondy/DSCF1379_zps94819177.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/hunter63/media/Rondy/DSCF1379_zps94819177.jpg.html)


Been looking at the Sportsman's Guide Teepee tent to maybe cut down the load to Big Red only....Yeah Right.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist/camping/tents?d=117&c=80

Anyway bought one and we set it up today...........

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/Rondy/DSCF1502_zps779df1fe.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/hunter63/media/Rondy/DSCF1502_zps779df1fe.jpg.html)

Not as much room as I thought....LOL....so maybe no cots?.
DW says, "How about the real short cot (never liked that one) so I gotta go dig it out.

I don't know about crawling around on our knees these days....this getting old is really a PITA(and knees).....so this is going to be a on going project.

Might rain over night, so testing the water proof-ness.....

Tomorrow try the short cot and air mattress......

Been spoiled for too long.

PS the dome tent (small) has always been in with the truck's gear....DW says "No, way Jose"......

[finallyME]

Tell us how it does in the rain.

[Tokwan]

Its like bringing a whole new home, in contrast to what I do..

[kyratshooter]

My little pyramid tent is about that size but square rather than octagon, so I can fit a cot or even two cots inside. You lose a lot of room with that fast taper and the octagon shape. Perhaps you can torque up those side guys and get a little more space.

We are getting too old for crawling around on the floor of a tent. Especially standing up from flat on the ground in the middle of the night.

I went to the one pole to cut down on the poles I had to carry. I figured up that my 12x14 wall tent requires almost 200 pounds of poles and ropes.

Last year I used the double layer air bed just because it takes up less space in the rig.

My rondy setup was truck w/trailer for many years.

[crashdive123]

I'm curious to see how it works out. I've been getting these tents in banner ads lately.

[Sarge47]

Not only am I curious about how it resists rain, but wind as well. On one of his videos Ron Hood takes his family camping and they use a Tipi tent. The tent he used was very expensive; with the stove that is made to go with it it runs well over a thousand dollars. The campground they wee camped at got a severe thunderstorm that night and their's was the only tent left standing. I've bee intrigued ever since....:cowboy:

[hunter63]

Came thru about 3/4 in of rain.....just two small puddles by one by each the doors....sewn in floor holds water in as well as out.

No care was made at set up to level or adjust the floor.....oh and on out side where the wall meats the floor small puddles sitting around perimeter.
I gonna say, passed the test.

On rope pulled off the small included stakes. (these suck), and will be replaced.

Inside is on single air mattress, that held air over night....gonna try the cot after my morning work out.

Still need some sort of of kitchen fly...free standing or maybe a tarp over the top or the tent?

BTW.......The Tipi are from the plains states....the wind never stops there ....ever.....and will take a storm better than most any other type of shelter.
In a storm the wind push down on the cober rather than lifting up.

Used a 16 ft. Tipi for many years......but the 20 plus 25 ft. poles get to be a bee-yatch to carry around and store.


We both are 60's some-things, and don't do ground as well any more.....just a fact.

[kyratshooter]

An old rondy trick I have seen people do many times with the one pole tent is to use a frame made from PVC on the inside to eliminate the pole in the center.

You could come off of a 4way fitting with 45% angles in the center top and have 1" PVC angling down the sides.

Very little weight and a whole lot of interior room made available.

[hunter63]

Yeah I hear ya.......
Tried the air mattress on the cot....LOL...air mattress much larger than the cot....not gonna happen.....so it's an either/ or,... I think.
Picked up another Walmart $29 buck low rise cot, slightly larger than the one I have.

Also picked up a free standing fold up canopy....got like 2 or 3 older type "the tarp of 1000 pipes pieces...to put up".....But It's time to take a break...and nap.

Tomorrow is another day......

[randyt]

looks like a nice tent but where is the stove jack?

[hunter63]

The other bigger wall tent had the stove jack......I still have the 3 Dog stove.....I should have maybe had a stove jack put in the wall tent...as the tent guy added a rear door to this one.

I would imagine a nomex panel could be added in the Pyramid tent....don't know how much I gonna use it.

When Big Red Rolls out, L'll have a "village" with all the lodges on board in truck and trailer.

[natertot]

Hey hunter, good info. Just curious as I have been intrigued by these for family use, did you get the 10x10 or the 18x18? What is your recommendation and thoughts for the tot clan?

[hunter63]

Small is cozy....but if I were you go with the bigger one.
True, if its like last year....you just need sleeping room, but a rainy day says more room for activities.

I talking Me DW, DD and crate...cots and other gear....and it will be tight in the 10X10...as the walls are not straight up like a wall tent.

[Tokwan]

I usually use a hammock when I go camping. My biggest tent is a two men tent, with the top about 3 feet at one end and the other about 20 inches height..(A Coleman Kraz X1...) Its a very small tent. I usually have a big tarp that covers the tent and also my cooking area, with a ground sheet between the tent and the cooking area so that I can sit or lie down.

[hunter63]

We used a dome tent in passed years, minimal gear...as well a couple of tarps on a canoe turned on it's side.

This project is old people camping/wilderness living....not surviving with minimal gear

But in retrospect the wall tent with the amenities like this,.... could be lived in comfortably for long periods of time.
Kinda was standard in mining and logging camps all over the west for several hundred years, before cabins and buildings were able to be built and became normal.

Nate, ours is a 10X10'

The funny part is were are back to where we started in the 1970's with a K-Mart tent and awning fly.....after many tents, tarps, pop up campers, to hard shell campers to log cabin to Tipi , to a couple of wall tents.......I guess next is curling up in a bed roll under a wayward pine.....
Just got my "cowboy bed rolls"...came in the big brown truck....that I ordered at Rondy from the tent guy.

Suggested that to DW.......got "The look"....and the instructions to call her at the hotel when I ready to roll.

[Tokwan]

Why would you need to "call her at the hotel" when you are ready to roll?

[crashdive123]

Mrs H63 ain't sleeping under the stars on a cowboy roll. And knowing how smart H63 is, he won't push the issue for fear of a frying pan to the back of the butt.

[hunter63]

That's a pretty good assessment.....Mrs. H puts up with a lot of stuff from me.....you would have thought she would get use to it in 40 plus years.....but she does have a limit.

So at some point it would be....."Well, Sweetie, you go play with your friends.....I hang out here, do brunch, maybe do a little shopping, and when you get cold, hungry, dirty.....come on back to the hotel....take a shower, and take me to supper."

We were discussing "camping" with a neighbor yesterday.....He was relating that they (he and his wife) hadn't been camping for many years.....That their are grown and don't go.....and how they had to wait till they were in school before they would take them.

DW related the fact that our son was 5 days old the first time we went camping in a K-mart tent....Kids are pretty resilient.

I might be over thinking this project.....as the rig is ready to role as is.....just was thinking "something different"....with this tent, and maybe the possibility of just the truck...HA......But that isn't gonna happen.

Been a while since I redid the set up.

[pgvoutdoors]

I bought a couple of those tents a few years ago. The first time I set one up it rained and by morning there was a fair amount of water in it. I had the lower vents open and most of the water came through them. By closing the vents and making sure the tent was staked out tight it sheds water pretty good but still leaks. I've resorted to using them in the winter months as a snow tent. It works well for that purpose but only in moderate snow conditions due to the amount of stakes it takes to setup. As long as I can stake it down in the soil there's no problems, but using snow anchors is way to much work. The clear plastic windows don't hold up well in cold weather either. In severe cold, well below zero, the windows crack.

I've made some modifications to mine to address these problems; and still use them mostly in the winter. The cost is very reasonable for that style of tent, and with a little effort on the buyer's part, they are worth the money.

[hunter63]

Thanks for the input pgv....that kind of feed back is what I was looking for.

Seems the set up time is somewhat shorter than the wall tent....and as the Jamboree is in October,.... weather will have a lot to do with what gets set up.

So far this one has sat out in the rain for two nights....all flaps were closed, and the only water that came in was at the doors.
But there wasn't anything touching inside to cause a leak.

[Tokwan]

Can you apply some silicone mixture (maybe silicone + acethone) to the roof and lining so that the material doesn't leak or seep water?

[hunter63]

Has rained everyday that last week........but still there wasn't hardly any water except the door.....bad design....silicone won't help.

Had set up a canopy....still was not real pleased.........

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/Rondy/DSCF1505_zps42c5137c.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/hunter63/media/Rondy/DSCF1505_zps42c5137c.jpg.html)

I really toying with leaving it at home in favor of the wall tent....LOL

Took everything down....and had the old "roll up 10 pound of "stuff" into a 5 pound bag".....thing going on.

Test and dry /wet run complete.
Gonna sleep on it.

So far tent $90, canopy $55,.....So I have about $150 bucks into it... total.....including some of them there store bought stakes.

[crashdive123]

As long as you're patient with me, I'll help you and Mrs. H63 set up the wall tent and fly at the Jamboree.

[hunter63]

Heh, heh, heh, Thanks.....been working on that, the patience part......gotta say it really frustrating not being able to do what I have been used to in the past.....

We got it all down this morning....and both of us kinda thought that it was more of a PITA than the big wall tent.....and smaller.

[sjj]

removed...

[hunter63]

Thanks for you comments.....hold down are a problem even around here, with sand or soft ground having the same problem as rocky ground....need long stakes as well as short.

I guess I was surprised at the amount of work, 10 wall stakes and 10 rope stakes this design requires.
About the same number as the wall tent.

Been sorta spoiled at the seemly sturdiness of canvas over nylon........but a vast difference in weight and size folded for transport
Was trying to go back to smaller load.

Had an opportunity on a 10x 10 single pole canvas pyramid tent that was for sale at Rondy...think it was a $200 bucks, used.

I can see where only four corners would make more wall space as Kyrat related........

Trying to parry down the gear rather than increase it.......Doesn't seem to be working.

[kyratshooter]

Even the canvas pyramid tents tend to allow a bit of water through the door in heavy rain. They combat that by adding a wide rain flap overlapping the opening and a small "eave" flap over the top of the door opening. Some folks even leave a bit of bare ground showing just inside the door so water does not puddle on their floor cloth.

Before I got the little pyramid tent I stepped down to a large wedge as my main lodge. It just requires 3 poles and at 10x16x8 including the bell it had plenty of room, was water tight all around and not too bad for the setup as long as I could find one guy that did not run fast enough to get away from me for raising the ridgepole.

I must say it was pricy though. Cost e as much as a wall tent the same size.

http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/o771/Mortblanc/024_zps74c54c63.jpg (http://s1342.photobucket.com/user/Mortblanc/media/024_zps74c54c63.jpg.html)

[hunter63]

LOL, I was discussing these with Lt. John of my Rodgers Rangers unit....and he assured me a wall tent was fine......but yeah new canvas is really expensive.
Was looking at wedges.

Now on the other hand...as long as it's stored dry, , or get mouse eaten....and doesn't stay set up year around. have seen some that have.....It will last 25 plus years.